The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Delay in opening Madurai Bench hits litigants, MP tells Bhardwaj

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Delay in opening Madurai Bench hits litigants, MP tells Bhardwaj

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, MAY 25. S.K. Karvendhan, Palani MP, and A.G.S. Rambabu, former MP from Madurai, today urged the Union Law Minister, H.R. Bhardwaj, to take steps for early inauguration of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

In a petition presented to him, they said it was presumed that the Public Works department was yet to hand over to the court the building, constructed at a cost of Rs. 70 crores. The High Court had also demanded Rs. 35 lakhs from the State government for the inauguration and the amount was not released.

Already 23,000 cases were ready for transfer to the Bench. The inauguration, originally planned for April 13, was postponed to May 17 and finally May 24 was fixed. But for some reason it could not be inaugurated. Litigants from southern districts were suffering because of the prolonged delay, the petition said.

MHAA seeks President's intervention

In another development, the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) has urged President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the next Chief Justice of India, R.C. Lahoti, to ensure that the Madurai Bench is not inaugurated without proper legislation enacted by Parliament for its constitution.

In identical petitions sent to them, the MHAA president, S. Prabhakaran, pointed out that writ petitions filed in the High Court for a direction to the Registrar-General to furnish information on the status of opening of the Bench were withdrawn following an assurance from its Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, that the Bar would be informed of it one month in advance and notice given to litigants about the transfer of their cases. But contrary to the assurance, Mr. Justice Reddy announced that the Bench would be inaugurated on May 24. The Registrar-General, despite several representations, gave no reply.

Further a strange situation arose with cases from more number of districts being sought to be transferred to the Madurai Bench.

The petition wanted Mr. Kalam and Mr. Justice Lahoti to ensure that the principal High Court retained the districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, the Nilgiris, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Karur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Permabalur and Pudukottai. The Madurai Bench should comprise the districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Madurai, Theni and Dindigul.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu